For You
by ajremix
Summary: Post Countdown/Omac Project.  The aftermath of Ted Kord's death- Booster and all the things left behind.


"You'll learn to just move on/Till then this song is for you"

-Robbie Sabo, "For You"

_"I really don't want to be here."_

_"I know," Bea quietly grabbed Booster's hand, "but you have to be."_

* * *

"What am I going to do with an entire _building_, Skeets?"

"You could always put things in it, sir. Or you could sell your flat and live here."

Booster snorted, unlocking the large glass doors and slipping inside. "Yeah. Because living in a building with my best friend's name in front is going to do wonders for my emotional state."

* * *

_There weren't many there. Asides from himself and Bea who came for support, there was Ted's father and brother, a lawyer for Kord Industries, Kimiyo representing the superhero community and someone who claimed to be from the Garrett estate._

_Kimiyo greeted her fellow heroes with a hug and soft words but beyond that no one spoke, barely even looked at each other. The sheer coldness and lifelessness of the room made it almost as painful to be in as Ted's funeral. When the attorney entered and stood at the head of the table, everything became even colder and emptier._

_The attorney's voice was flat and passably solemn, words crisp, formal and absolutely nothing how Booster wanted to remember Ted by. "We shall begin the reading of the Last Will and Testament of the late Ted Kord. 'I, Theodore Stephen Kord, of Joliet, Illinois, do make, publish and declare this to be my Last Will and Testament, hereby revoking all wills and codicils at any time heretofore made by me..."_

* * *

Nothing about the building was new or surprising to Booster; he'd been in it many times before both in and out of costume. It felt both claustrophobic and desolate without anyone else there. Especially without Ted's voice bouncing off the walls. It was just Booster's quiet steps and Skeets quietly humming next to him.

At the bottom floor of the compound they came to a stop beside a perfectly ordinary looking wall. And waited.

"Sir," Skeets said gently after a long moment, "you don't have to do this."

Booster took in a deep breath. "Yes, I do." He put his hand to the wall.

* * *

_Bea's arm around his shoulders and Kimiyo's hand at his elbow was barely enough to keep him together. Not while Booster had to listen to the attorney emotionlessly dividing Ted into inanimate pieces of property, dividing him and passing him out for people to own even as they shoved his memory away where his grins and bad jokes wouldn't see the light of day again. How could anyone else take it? How could Ted's own_ family _just sit there with a look of vague disappointment at what was left to them?_

_"I bequeath to Michael Jon Carter, also known as Booster Gold, if he survives me, sole and private ownership of the KORD INDUSTRIES building located in Chicago, Illinois, all non-KORD INDUSTRIES R&D items within as well as the remaining one-third of my fortune."_

_The attorney moved to the Garrett estate. Booster muffled a sob into Bea's shoulder.  
_

* * *

Booster knew what was in the room- he helped Ted set everything up after all -but for the first time he stepped in, saw all the things Ted had created with his own two hands and knew Ted had always planned to give it to him. The inactive Bug near the ceiling, the gutted BB Gun on a table, even the big screen and mini-bar. It all belonged to Booster. The thought made him sick.

There was a chess game paused on one of the computers, the rough drafts of some new gadget, formulas scribbled on fast food napkins and pinned to a cork board, projects half finished, barely constructed, awaiting finishing touches.

And none of them were going to be finished because Ted was dead.

Booster could barely feel himself breathing, was blinking back tears. And then he saw the spare Blue Beetle costume in a glass case and it was like a memorial had already been set-up for him here because no one bothered to give him one anywhere else.

That thought broke Booster.

He cried like he'd been wanting to since the moment Batman held up a pair of broken goggles. He screamed and swore, swinging at anything in reach, throwing things across the room. He cried until his throat was raw and he choked on his tears, he cried until he collapsed in a ruined heap of misery and then he cried until he fell asleep.

* * *

_He barely remembered getting into the car, just realized at some point he was strapped to a leather bucket seat with traffic thrumming around him. He stared sightlessly out the window. Beside him, Bea was swearing quietly in Portuguese about inept American drivers. They were quiet for the trip back to the hotel and it wasn't until they reached the doors to their respective rooms that Bea finally said, "What's the plan for tomorrow?"_

_"I'm going to go see that building Ted left me."_

_"So it's legally and financially yours?"_

_"Yeah. He wanted to pay it off as quick as he could and asked me if I'd chip in. Said he'd give me ownership of it. Thought he was joking at the time," Booster gave a tiniest smile and said thickly, "guess he was serious."_

_"Do you want me to come with you?"_

_"Nah. Skeets and me will be fine."_

_She touched his arm lightly. "Do you want any company tonight?"_

_"No. I just want to be alone." Booster slipped into his room before Bea figured out that, from that moment on, he was always going to be alone.  
_

* * *

Consciousness came back to Booster in slow pieces, all of which told him that Ted was here. It couldn't be, but... but Booster could here his _voice_-

He whirled around, "_Ted_!"

Abruptly the voice cut off and Skeets floated away from the computer, actually stuttering. "S-Sir! You're awake!"

Booster's heart was thundering in his chest. "Where is he? I heard him. I _heard_ him!"

"Sir, it wasn't Mr. Kord."

"_Yes, it was_! I know his voice anywhere!"

"Booster- it was a _recording_." Skeets weaved a little, almost guiltily. "He left a recording for you. I found it as I was going through the computer."

"A recording."

"Yessir. Do you... want me to play it?"

Booster sat numbly in front of the monitor and one of Skeets' pneumonic arms tapped at the keyboard. On screen, Ted was grinning at him, blue eyes wry but bright. He was saying something but Booster couldn't hear the words. This was it. This was all he had left of his best friend. A cold, empty building filled with partly-crafted reminders of his death and a farewell message.

Booster cradled his head in his hands and wept.


End file.
